Military Gay Ban On Trial

Senate Panel Hears Strong Opposition To Change In Policy

May 11, 1993|By WILLIAM H. MCMICHAEL Daily Press

NORFOLK NAVAL AIR STATION — Witnesses testifying on the issue of gays in the military before a Senate panel Monday were clearly, and predictably, divided into two camps: those who are gay, and everyone else.

The hearing was one of two to be held on military installations by the Armed Services Committee to get input on the emotionally charged issue from members of the military.

In a packed auditorium on base, the committee's eight senators, led by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., heard testimony from 17 Navy and Marine enlisted members and officers. Two, Lts. j.g. Tracy Thorne and Richard Selland, are openly gay and say they are now being processed out of the Navy under the long-standing Defense Department policy that excludes gays from military service.

Some witnesses went to pains to explain that they weren't homophobic. But all, save Thorne and Selland, said they were unalterably opposed to allowing gays to openly enlist.

The witnesses, said Nunn, were chosen by the committee, not the Navy. Either way, said representatives of a gay rights group called The Campaign for Military Service, the location and format of the hearings made it impossible for military members to speak in favor of lifting the ban.

Master Chief Petty Officer Ronald Carter told the panel, "I want to make it clear that we do not hate homosexuals. It's incompatible with military service."

"Lifting the ban will absolutely dissolve our ability to perform and function as military units," said Marine 1st Sgt. Richard Forrest. "It will destroy unit morale and cohesion."

"I feel that we're looking at a very small percentage of very vocal people who are looking to the government to legitimize their lifestyle," said Cmdr. Lin Hutton.

The atmosphere at the hearing was highly charged. When Thorne and Selland, wearing their Navy whites, were announced, about one-third of the audience stood up and walked out. And despite Nunn's warnings, testimony was interrupted on a number of occasions by applause, cheers and derisive laughter. At one point, such laughter was prompted by a commission member.

"I'd like to commend you both on your desire to serve your country," Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., said in his slow Southern drawl to Thorne and Selland, sitting together. "But your lifestyle is not normal." After the applause and hoots died down, he followed up with, "Have either of you tried to seek professional help?"

Thorne, a naval aviator, replied, "If I could have changed my sexual orientation as a child, I would have." Growing up as a homosexual, he said, is "a pain I would not wish on anyone."

Selland, a submariner who said his evaluation reports told of an officer with "unlimited potential" before he announced that he was gay, asked, "What's the crime in wanting to serve my country? The policy on gays is based on other peoples' shortcomings."

The other 15 witnesses disagreed, voicing concerns about every imaginable aspect of the issue. "Ninety to 98 percent of the general population is heterosexual," said Hutton, the Navy's seventh female aviator. "The homosexual lifestyle is an anathema to the majority of these sailors."

Privacy was one of their major concerns.

"If you ask me to share that shower with a homosexual, you've stripped me of the last bit of dignity I have," said Petty Officer 1st Class Ginger McElfresh, one of the two women to testify. "We can't turn on and off our sexual tendencies."

Master Chief Petty Officer Harry Shafer addressed the issue of fairness. "Our military is the front line of defense for the freedoms our nation enjoys," he said. "It should not be forced to be a mirror image of it." The view that military service "isn't a right, it's a privilege" was expressed by many.

Commanders asked how they could teach acceptance of behavior that they themselves did not tolerate and painted images of units that would be torn apart by openly gay members.

"Sailors have been taught that homosexuality is wrong," said Cmdr. Fred Pledger. "We would be tasked with breaking down basic core values. This is more than an education issue, which any good commander can resolve. This is a readiness issue. What's the payoff?"

"How can I tell them about behavior that I find reprehensible?" asked Capt. Gordon Holder. He also worried that he didn't have the proper information "to go out there and educate the moms and dads in the heartland of America and tell them this is going to be all right."

Witnesses like Petty Officer 2nd Class Al Portes said they would leave the military if gays were allowed to openly enlist, and several voiced concerns that lifting the ban would hurt military recruiting. Master Chief Petty Officer Ronald Carter said he was concerned about the possibility of receiving a combat transfusion of blood tainted with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.